By Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer

INDIAN HILL - For the second time in seven months, toxic lead has closed athletic fields at a Greater Cincinnati school.

Cincinnati Country Day School officials met with students Tuesday at the private Indian Hill school and told them two baseball fields are closed because of the discovery of lead contamination from skeet shooting debris.

The Camargo Club, a private golf club that offers skeet shooting, borders Country Day's Given Road campus near the two ballfields.

In August, toxic lead, also from a private shooting club, was discovered at Kings junior and senior high school in Warren County, prompting a $2 million cleanup including demolition of a football stadium and baseball fields.

School officials said owners of the Camargo Club suggested the lead testing in February after testing on another adjacent property revealed contamination from lead shotgun pellets.

The Camargo Club was closed Tuesday and officials were unavailable to comment.

But Jeff Clark, assistant head of school for Country Day, said the club has offered to pay for removing lead from the two baseball diamonds. School officials do not know how long the lead could have been in the soil. The school has been on the same site since 1926, Clark said.

"They have been great neighbors about this," Clark said of Camargo.

The school's boys baseball and girls softball games will be played at different sites.

Clark said the school learned of the lead on Feb. 28, but waited to notify parents until last week because the school first contracted a toxicologist to assess the environmental impact. Also, he added, the two fields, which occupy about four acres of the school's 65-acre campus, were not being used.

He said testing found lead concentrations from 400 parts per million to 1,000 parts per million. Federal standards consider concentrations of more than 400 parts per million as toxic.

On March 25, Country Day Head of School Lee Pierson wrote to parents of the 850-student school, as well as alumni, stating "this situation is not cause for alarm."

"The Camargo Club has taken full responsibility for completely remediating the affected soil," the letter said. "They also will return the fields to playing condition." No cost estimate was available for the cleanup.

School officials said there have been no reports of any suspected lead-related illnesses among Country Day students or alumni.

Lead has been linked to health problems including brain damage, organ failure, hyperactivity and fertility problems. Young children are the most susceptible.

Clark said small children do not use the two playing fields. The school educates children from prekindergarten through 12th grade.

Laura Tholke, mother of four Country Day students, praised school officials for "timely and full disclosure about the presence of lead in the soil. I have the utmost confidence ... and feel secure that the school's first concern is the health and safety of its students."

E-mail mclark@enquirer.com